Talisman: A Journal of Contemporary Poetry and Poetics
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David Wilk

STARS AND THEIR STORIES

          Solstice

they came here
bearing gifts

as it was said

they were
traveling from distant lands

so it was said

or was remembered to have said
by elderly members
of a forgotten family
or clan
or the skyward looking
seer who led them

as if going alone
into the darkness
could ever be enough

as if the act of remembering
could ever be enough

so it was said

some long ago day
in the coldest night
of any year in memory
of the eldest among us

as it was said
any star that could be seen
through the darkness

and thus
to know the future
as each talismanic effort
to find a passage to another world
is thwarted by
dust and blood

as it was said

because the storyteller did not
or could not
say
why
or how

"this is what we know now”
“this is certain”
“this is true"

such is memory
so full of timelessness

such is mystery
so empty of
certainty

as the cracks
in the ice on a frozen lake
in moonlight
can be read as a map
of prayers
repeated
and
never
answered

or that what they
those who came before us
believed could be believed in
or that bearing gifts might ever be enough
or thought to be
or that magic could be enabled

as it is said

by words, deeds, or simply
telling our stories out loud
to the moon and stars
with tears and anger
and desperation
enough

as it is said

to enlighten each listener
tall tales might be
well told
will that suffice
for those who remain

let that be enough
for the frozen memory
the stars that cross the sky
and the children
bearing gifts
wishing for their memories to be reborn

December 2017